Good Samaritan Dives Into Hudson River To Rescue Pilot After Small WWII-Era Plane Crashes (UPDATED)

UPDATE 10:55 p.m. ET:

NYPD spokesman J. Peter Donald said late Friday that Special Ops divers had recovered a body involved in the Hudson River plane crash.

The investigation is still ongoing.

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UPDATE 10:15 p.m. ET: 

The pilot, originally reported to have only sustained minor injuries after being rescued, is now being reported as missing, according to the Associated Press.

Though the NJSP said the pilot had been rescued, the NYPD insisted that was not the case. NYPD Deputy Chief Rodney Harrison said the NJSP's report was "inaccurate." Scuba divers are now searching for the missing pilot.

A Coast Guard spokesperson said divers will go back into the water at dawn Saturday to try to lift the plane out of the river, according to NBC News.

The New Jersey State Police has pulled back its statement that the pilot was rescued, saying there were "conflicting reports from scene of plane crash" and can "no longer confirm swimmer in water was pilot."

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A vintage World War II-era fighter plane crashed into the Hudson River, between New York and New Jersey, Friday, and one good samaritan immediately leapt into the water to search for the pilot.

The exact circumstances of the crash remain unknown, according to New Jersey State Police, but the pilot survived, sustaining only minor injuries.

Actual video of WW2 Thunderbolt crashing in Hudson River, still looking for pilot #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/LLJPTsAS3U

— Michael George (@mgeorge4NY) May 28, 2016

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said it received a notification that a World War II-era P-47 Thunderbolt may have gone down in the river, two miles south of the George Washington Bridge, according to ABC News. The statement said the agency sent search and rescue to the scene.

The FAA later added that the aircraft was one of three that departed from Republic Airport on Long Island. The other two planes returned safely to the airport, the FAA said.

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